Although the adoption of chip-and-pin technology, largely replacing signatures, had helped to rein in fraud in the UK, there was a revival in the fraudulent use of cards abroad.

However, this has now dropped as well, with fraud abroad falling by a further 15% last year to £80m.

That was its lowest level in 12 years, and nearly two-thirds down from the peak of foreign card fraud in 2008, when it stood at £230m.

Overall, the most common losses last year were due to cards being improperly used to order items over the phone, by post or over the internet - so-called "card not present" fraud.

This accounted for £221m - nearly two-thirds of all card fraud losses.

Meanwhile counterfeit card fraud, once the second-largest category of loss, has slumped in the past five years, down by three-quarters since 2007.

The biggest areas of card fraud loss in 2011 were:

Cards not present: £221m

Lost or stolen cards: £50m

Counterfeit cards: £36m

Card ID theft: £23m

Cards stolen in the post: £11m

DCI Paul Barnard, who leads the police cheque and plastic crime unit, said with more sophisticated anti-fraud technology now in use, criminals had returned to simpler forms of fraud.

"Many scams involve customers being conned into handing over their cards and Pins, or their telephone banking security details by someone calling, pretending to be their bank or police," he pointed out.

"Be wary of any unsolicited phone calls or emails - never hand over your card and Pin or bank security details in full as neither your bank or the police will ever ask you for these."

Meanwhile, fraud losses against online banking accounts fell by 24% last year to £35m, while fraud losses involving telephone banking rose by 32% to £17m.